Canada’s Earth Tower – Timber for City of Glass

Vancouver is the third largest city in Canada, located on the West Coast of the mainland of British Columbia. Founded in the XIX century due to the gold rush, it soon became the largest Pacific port in North America. Now this relatively small city (the population of Vancouver is just a little over 600 thousand people) is considered one of the most prosperous and comfortable for life. Three times Vancouver received from the reputable The Economist magazine the title of the world’s most liveable city and for many years in a row has not left the first places in the ranking of the best cities worldwide. Looking at the streets of Vancouver, one may see how harmoniously it combines industrial progress and striving for nature. Even though it is a developed industrial city, it still remains very green.

In Canada, Vancouver is often called the City of Glass, this name reflects the dominant steel-and-glass architectural aesthetic of the city’s downtown.  At night, these glass walls give a stunning visual effect - panoramic windows not only offer residents wonderful views overlooking the ocean and mountains – in the dark, the buildings glisten from basements to roofs.

Although, this beauty has a downside: if you look at these wonderful buildings in the afternoon with the help of a infrared thermal imaging camera, the glass sparkling under the rays of the sun seems white-hot that is an obvious sign that excess heat is radiated into the air.

Full content of this issue you can read here

The full version of the article can be read in our printed issue, also you can subscribe to the web-version of the magazine

Materials provided by Perkins and Will and taken from public sources. Illustrations: Delta Group and Perkins and Will